Unauthorized immigrants to get licenses

SACRAMENTO  State lawmakers Thursday night approved historic legislation that would allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain a special drivers license, but it could not be used as identification to board planes, collect public benefits or register to vote.

Gov. Jerry Brown immediately issued a statement saying he will sign the measure, which was shaped to meet his specifications.

“This bill will enable millions of people to get to work safely and legally,” he said. “Hopefully, it will send a message to Washington that immigration reform is long past due.”

The law will bring to an end a decade of legislative attempts to provide licenses for those here illegally.

The measure had been shelved just the day before after drawing vehement opposition from immigrant rights activists who said the special marker identifying the holder as being in this country illegally was tantamount to a “Scarlet Letter” inviting discrimination and racial profiling.

Yes
19% (830)

No
81% (3564)

4394 total votes.

Earlier, the Legislature sent numerous bills to the governor while rejecting others as the clock ticked down on the last day of expected legislative business for the year. Lawmakers approved a higher minimum wage, overtime pay for domestic workers and a speedier process to remove teachers accused of misconduct.

But they declined to take away a tax exemption from the Boy Scouts and also shelved a high-profile gun-control bill.

Under the license bill, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be in charge of making adjustments to the document to make sure it meets the security standards established by the federal Real ID Act put into law after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,

The bill suggests the likely wording stamped on the back could be: “This card is not acceptable for official federal purposes. This license is issued only as a license to drive a motor vehicle, It does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration or public benefits.”

The front of the license would have a small “DP” notation to designate that it was for the driving privilege only, instead of the “DL” abbreviation for driver’s license.

Supporters say a license with a marker, while distasteful, is better than no license at all, particularly since legislative sessions over the last decade have been littered with similar bills that failed.

Additionally, unauthorized immigrants are already driving. This would encourage them to be trained, tested and obtain insurance, they said.

“We have a governor waiting to sign this measure,” said Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana. “I choose to vote for progress.”

The Senate approved the Assembly Bill 60 on a 28-8 vote. It passed the Assembly, 55-19.

Many protesting immigrant activists wanted a non-distinguishable document. One of those with concerns is Christian Ramirez, human rights director of Alliance San Diego, which is part of a broader coalition of 30 area groups.

“This is not the best way forward,’ he said after the Senate vote.

Ramirez noted that parts of the proposed federal immigration reform package focusing on security issues could trump state law and force local police to detain stopped drivers for possible deportation hearings.

“It is definitely a polarizing issue,” he said. “We need to stand by our values and principles.”

In light of that, principal author — Assemblyman Louis Alejo, D-Salinas, dropped the bill and as late as Thursday morning said he planned to work with critics to come up with a compromise. But the Senate moved ahead regardless and a deal was struck for the Assembly to take action.

Critics opposed driver’s licenses of any kind for unauthorized immigrants, saying that would reward illegal behavior.

Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, R-Escondido, said it would set a precedent that could eventually open the doors for licenses to be used for identificaton purposes as well as driving. She added that it was a “weakening of the responsibilities and values” of becoming a legal permanent resident.

In other action:

• California’s minimum wage would rise to $10 an hour within three years under a bill that is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown, giving the state one of the highest rates in the nation. AB 10 would raise California’s $8 hourly minimum wage by $1 on July 1 and another dollar on Jan. 1, 2016. Brown said he will sign the first minimum wage increase since 2008.

• Brown has signed into law a compromise bill intended to ease the state’s prison crowding crisis by asking federal judges to delay their year-end deadline for releasing thousands of inmates.

SB 105 authorizes the administration to spend a projected $315 million to lease cells in private prisons and county jails. Yet part of the money would instead go to rehabilitation programs if the court agrees to extend its deadline for reducing the prison population by about 9,600 inmates.

• A bill to strip the Boy Scouts of America of its tax-exempt status in California because of the organization’s refusal to allow gay troop leaders failed. SB 323 called for denying state tax breaks to nonprofit youth groups that discriminate on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion or religious affiliation. Because the legislation was a tax measure, it required a two-thirds vote in both houses to pass.

The Senate approved it in May, but it stalled in the Assembly on Thursday.

• A proposal that would have banned ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 bullets also failed. State law already prohibits the sale, gift and loan of large-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. SB 396 would have forced gun owners who already had such magazines to dispose of them by July 2014.

• The governor also received a bill intended to speed and streamline the process for dismissing teachers accused of misconduct, despite the opinion of some lawmakers that the measure should be improved, possibly next year. AB 375 adds homicide charges to the list of offenses that can prompt a teacher’s removal. But it removes possession of marijuana and some other drugs from the list of offenses that can trigger immediate removal from the classroom.

• Employers would have to pay overtime to domestic workers under a bill sent to the governor, but the mandate would expire in a few years unless the Legislature renews it. AB 241 was scaled back from the original version and now exempts part-time baby sitters, but it requires that other domestic workers be paid time-and-a-half if they work more than nine hours in a day or 45 hours in a week. That requirement expires Jan. 1, 2017, unless renewed by the Legislature.

• Lawmakers approved legislation intended to undo a court decision that left 2,500 California small-business owners with unexpected tax bills at the end of last year. Two separate bills — SB 209 and AB 1412 — that moved through the Legislature are aimed at retroactively reinstating a tax break for small businesses on capital gains from the sale of stocks. It was overturned by a court ruling last year, leading the Franchise Tax Board to send tax notices totaling $120 million for the years 2008 to 2012.

• The Senate approved, and the Assembly was expected to later follow, a bill that would loosen some environmental regulations statewide, but primarily dealt with making it easier to build a new downtown basketball arena for the Sacramento Kings.

• Lawmakers agreed to name the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Resolutions do not require the signature of the governor, who opposed the bridge naming.